Actress Esmé Bianco has settled her sexual-assault lawsuit against Marilyn Manson out of court. In 2021, the Game of Thrones star told the Cut that the singer, whose real name is Brian Warner, had sexually assaulted her and physically and psychologically abused her throughout the course of their two-year relationship. She then sued Manson over allegations that involve rape and sex trafficking, saying he lured her to Los Angeles with the promise of work. In a statement to Rolling Stone on Tuesday, Bianco’s lawyer said she “agreed to resolve her claims against Brian Warner and Marilyn Manson Records, Inc. in order to move on with her life and career.” The terms of the agreement have not been publicized.
More than a dozen women have accused Manson of sexual abuse in recent years, including the actress Evan Rachel Wood, who alleges he drugged, battered, and raped her. Four of these accusers have filed lawsuits against him (two of which have been dismissed), all telling similar stories that involve being tortured with an electric device, whipped, and locked in a room. Manson has denied all the accusations, calling them “horrible distortions of reality” that misrepresent consensual relationships.
In Bianco’s telling, Manson quickly became abusive. She told the Cut that after moving into his apartment in 2011, she started to feel “like a prisoner”; what she wore, ate, and where she went were “completely controlled” by Manson. She said Manson barely allowed her to sleep, and she drank heavily to cope. At one point, Bianco claimed Manson cut her torso with a knife and that he chased her with an ax on another occasion. She described being in a perpetual state of terror, calling Manson “a monster who almost destroyed me and almost destroyed so many women.”
Manson’s attorney Howard King told Insider in 2021 that Bianco’s allegations “are provably false.” “To be clear, this suit was only filed after my client refused to be shaken down by Ms. Bianco and her lawyer and give in to their outrageous financial demands based on conduct that simply never occurred,” he said at the time.
In 2019, Bianco helped Wood and other survivors’ advocates pass the Phoenix Act, a law that extended the California’s statute of limitations on domestic-violence charges. Manson sued Wood for defamation in March 2022, after the actress released an HBO documentary, Phoenix Rising, detailing his alleged abuse. And while Bianco has settled her case against Manson, the singer could still face more legal trouble: The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has been considering criminal charges against Manson, as part of a 19-month investigation by the sheriff’s department.